


The Diversion

by Delphi



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Humor, M/M, Puzzles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-05
Updated: 2009-05-05
Packaged: 2017-10-05 20:19:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delphi/pseuds/Delphi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hades begins to put together a puzzle when he finds something strange on the banks of the Acheron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Diversion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blackletter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackletter/gifts).



Stranger things had washed up on the banks of the Acheron—everything worth having came to him in time, after all—and on any other day, he might have let it lie. But on that dark grey morning, he was newly alone, and the earth above was blooming with flowers to greet his queen, and so he paused to pick up the golden thing that had caught his eye in the gloom.

It was a thigh. A youth's thigh, perhaps a young man's, and of the sort that mortal men might come to blows over—or upon.

Hades turned it over in his hands and then brought it home to his palace and put it on a shelf between a silent seashell and a broken sword. Then he continued about his business.

The next day, as he took his walk along the river, he found a long-fingered hand in the shallows. The next day it was a shapely foot, and the next a strong arm, and the next a well-made chest. It was a puzzle, and he did so enjoy puzzles, but this one was new to him and so required consultation.

"Hmph," his brother scoffed in the murky depths of his kingdom, and the ripples from his breath sent great waves crashing into continents. "Don't bother. You put them together, and treat them like princes, and help them win a bride, and then they never visit."

"Hm," his great-nephew hummed, setting down his staff to a hiss and touching each piece. "Well, obviously the ankle bone's connected to the shin bone."

"Ah." Smiling crookedly, his nephew offered him his best vintage and would say no more.

Hades laid the parts together on his bride's empty bed as the river gave them up: one leg and then another, arms and shoulders, torso and hips, buttocks and sex. Finally, the head of a handsome, beardless youth was delivered to him. Its eyes were dark and blank, and its lips were like cherries, and its hair was a tangle of black curls.

He pressed the torn pieces together like clay, and he breathed a breath of life into its lungs. The youth sat up with a sputter, his eyes wide with startlement and awe.

"Who are you, stranger? Are they gone? Have you saved me?"

Hades smiled in satisfaction. Perhaps it would not be such a tedious summer after all.


End file.
